FYI, .Net's regexp library has at least one feature that we'll have to wait til perl6 for: named captures. I wrote Regexp::NamedCaptures as an experiment to copy .Net's feature into perl5 but it's not something I'd want to use heavily. Also, .Net has the benefit of being parrot-like. You write code in multiple (Microsoft only) languages and they all compile down to the same thing. This lets you implement different parts of your stuff in the appropriate languages. I wouldn't be surprised if there was also support for your other two features: anonymous subs and closures.

Well, what I said is a common facetious expression of the fact that all the CLR languages are very close to C# in semantics, to the point that the differences are basically just syntactical.

(Of course, there’s now F#… though I wonder if anyone’s putting it to serious use (if it’s even ready for prime time – I have no idea). The one interesting-looking contender is IronPython – though not interesting to me personally.)